Governor marble motor



March 21, 1961 w; o. BRAY GOVERNOR MARBLE MOTOR Filed Nov. 27, 1959 INVENTOR. WoH'zr O. Bray.

United States Patent O 2,975,543 GOVERNOR MARBLE MOTOR Walter 0. Bray, 3572 S. D, Tacoma,- Wash.

Filed Nov. 27, 1959, Ser. No. 855,566

2 Claims. (or. 46-42 This invention relates in general to mechanical toys, and more specifically to a spherical weight operated flywheel having a novel governor controlled speed of rotatron.

Machines having unusual mechanical methods of operation will never cease to be of interest and inspirational value to both adults and children alike. Many of these devices have been invented without any effective control of the rate of operation, with the result that the mechanism will just pick up speed until its charge load is spent. Others combine some form of regulator or governor which brakes the energy being released by the moving charge and absorbs such energy in friction or some other wasteful manner. It is my intent to provide a spherical weight operated fly-wheel which will rotate at a substantially constant speed, and is adapted to selectively receive a charge automatically as the rate .of revolution drops to a certain level. In this manner the energy transferred by the balls in passing through the machine is converted entirely to rotational momentum of the fly-wheel, without some of the energy being diverted to control the speed of rotation.

It is therefore a primary object of my invention to provide a machine which is operated by the change in elevation of a spherical charge, to provide interest and inspiration from understanding the principles involved.

It is another object of the invention to provide a spherical charge operated fly-wheel which will rotate at a substantially constant speed in spite of intermittent eccentric loading of the wheel.

It is a further object of the invention to providera mechanism of the above class which is robust in construction and capable of making many hundreds of revolutions by the action of but a few elevated spherical charges.

My invention consists of a substantially solid flywheel mounted for rotation in a vertical plane. The wheel has an elongated channel machined near the centre, having a centre line forming a portion of a chord of the circumference. A second channel of shorter length is disposed radially outwardly and parallel to said first channel, and

having an opening into the first channel. A drilled hole disposed parallel to said first channel connects one end of the second channel with the perimeter of the wheel. A governor ball bearing is adapted to move within and between said channels and a striker rod is slidably received in said hole to project through the opening in the perimeter of the wheel. A small bucket adapted to receive a spherical charge is mounted on the perimeter of the wheel forwardly of said rod. A magazine or hopper is mounted with an opening slot above the wheel and is adapted to deliver consecutive single spherical charges to the slot. The rod, during rotation of the wheel, enters said slot to dislodge a charge into the bucket when the ball bearing is in the second channel. The rod passes beneath the slot when the ball is located in the first channel. In this manner a charge is accepted in the bucket only when the speed of rotation is reduced. A tray for collecting spent charges is located beneath the wheel.

2,975,548 Patented Mar. 21, 1961 ice A full understanding of the construction and operation of this invention will be had from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof when taken in conjunction with the attached drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a front elevation of the assembled machine showing part of the fly-wheel in cross section.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the assembled machine.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sketch showing three typical positions of the governor control ball as the wheel rotates in an anti-clockwise direction.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the striker rod entering the charged hopper.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary front elevation partly in cross section showing the striker rod forcing a charge into the bucket.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the machine showing a tray beneath the wheel for collecting the spent charges.

Like reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views in the drawing.

Referring now to the drawing, the numeral 10 represents a fly-wheel mounted in a vertical plane on a central shaft 11. The shaft is received in a bearing 12 and restricted from translatory movement by a collar 13. An elongated channel 14 terminates with circular end walls 15 and 16 and is disposed in the plane of the wheel on a portion of a chord which passes near the centre of rotation thereof. A second channel 17 is disposed radially outwardly and parallel with respect to said first channel and has a lower circular end wall 18 and an upper flat wall 19 terminating the channel at half length of the first channel. An opening 20 is formed between the two channels to enable a ball 21 to pass between the channels and come to rest in any of said circular end walls. A drilled hole 22 runs parallel with the first channel 14 and centrally of the width of the wheel to terminate at one end in the perimeter of the wheel and at the other end in the flat wall 19 of the second channel 17. An actuating rod 23 projects outwardly through the hole and is retained in sliding relation therewith by a head 24 larger than the hole located on the rod within the second channel. A bucket 25 closed at one end is secured on the circumference of the fly-wheel 10 and presents a circular opening 26 upstanding from the surface forwardly of the actuating rod 23. The wheel is constructed to rotate in an anti-clockwise direction asindicated by'the arrow in Fig. 1.

The bearing 12 is located in the mid-section of a vertical frame member 27. The upper end of the member 27 projects rearwardly to present a horizontal platform 28 for receiving a hopper 29. The hopper consists of a rectangular box extending over the fly-wheel and rearwardly beyond the platform. A sloping partition wall 30 extends across the hopper opening to terminate near the rear lower corner thereof. The terminating edge of the wall restricts the entry of marbles or ball bearings 31 such that only one marble may fall into the lower section of the hopper at any instant. In this manner a single line of marbles is presented on the base 32 of the hopper. A slot 33 is formed through the side walls 34 and the base 32 at the forward end vertically above the fly-wheel 10. The slot is narrower than the diameter of any of the marbles 31, one of which will be resting in the slot at all times. The slot wide enough to receive the end of the actuating rod 23 as it rotates in an extended position. The slot in the rearward side wall 34 as seen in Fig. 4 is enlarged at 35 to form an exit for the marbles when struck by the rod 23. A suitable tray 36 having a sloping base 37 is secured to the lower side of frame 27 beneath the flywheel. A forwardly disposed side wall 38 is cut short to form an opening 39 through which spent marbles 31 will roll. The tray has legs 40 which combine with a webbed frame base 41 to stabilize the machine in an upright position.

The operation of the machine may best be understood by reference to Figs. 1, 3, 4, 5, and particularly to Fig. 3. Initi-ally the governor ball 21 is located *within the end wall :1=8,,inwhich position the actuating rod 23 protrudes outwardly from the circumference of the wheel so as to pass through the slot 33 formed in the hopper. The Wheel is moved in an anti-clockwise direction and the rod strikes a marble 31 which is dislodged to fall out of the enlargedropenin g 35 and into the bucket .25. Gravitational forces on the ball cause the wheel to rotate. As the bucket passes its lowermost position during rotation, the ball falls from the bucket into the tray 36. During-rotation, as isdemonstrated in Fig. 3, if the speed of rotation is low, the actuating rod will drop outwardly away from'the ball and the ball will drop out of channel '17 :into channel 14 and as the channel passes bottom dead centre, the ball will return again to its original position inchannel 17. As the actuating rod approaches the hopper, the head 24 will fall back against the ball and is thereby retained in an extended position. Thus, another marble is dislodged from the hopper to increase the speed of the wheel. This sequence is repeated until a certain speed of rotation is achieved wherein the ball 21 falls 'from channel 17 into channel'14, and rolls outwardly to end wall 15. It will be noted that at this point the ball has moved radially outwardly and its velocity is thereby increased such that the centrifugal forces imposed on the -ball are sufiicient to counteract the forces due to gravity which would have caused the ball to return into channel 17. The ball remains in this position for the complete revolution and consequently as the actuating rod 23 turns toward a vertical position, it will slide due to gravity until the head 24 is arrested by the end wall 18 of channel 17. In this position the other end of the rod passes beneath the hopper slot 33 and does not dislodge a further marble into the bucket 25. As long as the speed of rotation is greater than a certain value, the ball 21 will remain out of channel 17 and hence out of engagement with the rod 23. In this manner the speed of rotation is eflectively controlled.

Having described my invention in particular form, it -willbe appreciated that some modifications may be made to the precise construction without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention as defined by the following claims.

I claim: 1. 'A mechanical toy comprising in combination, a

4 frame, a fly-wheel axially supported in a vertical plane against the side of said frame, bucket means projecting from the circumference of said fiy-wheel, a hopper mounted on the top of said frame and extending over said fly-wheel, a slot formed in the underside of the extended portion of said hopper and adapted to form an opening through which the outer end of an actuating rod may pass, said actuating rod slidably received in a hole drilled centrally of the width of the fly-wheel and extending into a channel radially spaced from the centre thereof, a governor ball free to move into and out of said channel, and adapted to vary the location of said actuating rod longitudinally of said hole, marbles received within said hopper and adapted to be dislodged individually through said slot into said bucket by the rotating action of said actuating rod.

2. A mechanical toy comprising in combination, a frame a fly-wheel axially supported for rotation in a vertical plane on said frame, a bucket presenting an opening in a radial plane secured to the circumference of said fly-wheel, a hopper mounted on said frame and extending over said fly-wheel, said hopper having a slop ing partition wall adapted to feed a supply of marbles into "a single line along the base of said hopper, aslot formed in the underside of the extended portion of said hopper, and adapted to form an opening through which the outer end of an actuating rod may pass, said opening being widened on one side of the hopper to form an exit for said marbles, said actuating rod slidably received in a hole drilled'centrally of the width of the fly-wheel and extending into a channel radially spaced from the centre thereof, said channel opening into a second parallel channel disposed radially inwardly of said first mentioned channel and extending therebeyond terminating with an extended portion disposed in parallel spaced relation with said hole, curved end walls at the terminating ends of said channels adapted to receive a governor ball free to move between-said channels, said ball being disposed in said first mentioned channel, preventing said rod from sliding to the bottom of the channel, and causing the outwardly disposed end thereof to project beyond said fiy-wheel, pass through said opening in the hopper, and dislodge a marble through said exit and into said bucket, causing said fly-wheel to rotate, and a tray disposed beneath said fiy-wheel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,785,504 Kooistra Mar. 19, 1957 

